■ Shares close higher
Share prices closed 0.81 percent higher yesterday as bargain-hunters emerged from the sidelines and helped the market resume a technical rebound that was interrupted on Friday, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 60.95 points at 7,629.15, after trading between 7,590.82 and 7,640.14, on turnover of NT$88.89 billion (US$2.69 billion).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (台積電) was up as investors welcomed removal of an overhang on the stock after Royal Philips Electronics NV worked out a multi-phased schedule to sell its remaining 16.2 percent stake in the world's top chip foundry.
The disposal by Philips led overseas investors to a record NT$54.9 billion net selling of local shares yesterday, according to data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Excluding the stake sale, overseas investors bought NT$2.8 billion worth of shares.
"People deemed it still worthwhile to hunt for bargains despite Wall Street being a mixed bag on Friday," said an analyst with a leading local securities firm.
As the gains stem largely from technical factors, it would not be surprising if profit-taking sets in before long, said the analyst, who asked not to be named.
■ Insurer in talks with Hainan
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), the nation's eighth biggest financial group by assets, said its life insurance unit, Taiwan's second-largest life insurer, is in talks with China's Hainan Airlines Co (海南航空) to set up a venture in China.
Shin Kong Financial said in a filing to Taiwan's stock exchange yesterday that it and Hainan Airlines are in talks. The statement didn't give the nature of the proposed venture.
Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) has applied to Chinese regulators to set up a life insurance venture with Hainan Airlines, China's fourth-largest carrier, the Economic Daily News said March 9, without citing anyone.
■ Lottery machines break down
The vending machines of Taiwan Lottery Co (台灣彩券公司) malfunctioned yesterday, forcing about 219 vendors to suspend business for some time. Company president Chang Ruu-tian (張汝恬) attributed the breakdown to a system maintenance carried out last week, when workers replaced batteries that were said to be the cause of system crashes in the past. Chang did not disclose estimated losses from the breakdown. An official at the Ministry of Finance said it would decide how to deal with the matter after Taiwan Lottery submits a report to the ministry.
■ Tool industry to be developed
The government has decided to develop Taiwan's machine tool industry into a "megasector" able to generate a production value of NT$1.1 trillion per year by 2009, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday.
Taiwan also wishes to become one of the world's three largest manufacturers and sources of advanced and high-precision machine tools by that year, Chen said in an address to the opening ceremony of the 2007 Taipei International Machine Tool Show at the World Trade Center.
Taiwan is currently the world's fourth-largest source of machine tools, exporting products worth NT$96.3 billion last year with an annual growth of 11.5 percent, Chen said.
The machine tool sector has earned a good reputation on the international market, thanks to its longstanding efforts to upgrade precision and control production costs, Chen said, noting that the production of machine tools, parts and components is expected to surge to NT$400 billion by 2010, according to a prediction by the Industrial Development Bureau.
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